Chapter Text
"Hi Emu!" Isuke smiled at his aunt. He had on a t-shirt with the PXL logo and his beige jacket. He adjusted it to make sure the park's logo was visible.
"Oh! Uh, Isuke! You're... uh... you're in your uniform already! N-nice job!" Emu stammered, giving him a shaky thumbs up and trying her best to smile back. "Are Kino and... Kino and Kageyama here yet?"
Juni Kino and Seika Kageyama were two of his coworkers. Juni was a lot like Emu: colorful and energetic. Her hair was naturally a pale pink, but she often dyes it. As of now, her bangs were rainbow. Seika was the complete opposite. She was kind of rude and very lazy, but also pretty funny (she's secretly a streamer). She had short choppy dark blue hair with silver tips. Outside of work, Juni and Seika's older sister were part of the same dance group (Juni may have a bit of a crush on that sister, Makoto).
"Did you forget? It's just me today!"
"Oh... that's, uh, wonderful!"
"Are you okay?"
"Yep! You should get to your stall now! Bye!!"
After she left, he stopped forcing his smile and let his jacket slip down his shoulders.
He stood behind the curtain, putting up the prizes and the rings and bottles. Then he rehearsed what he would say to customers. He'd greet them, ask if they needed instructions, explain if so, ask which game mode they wanted, and then collect the appropriate payment. He was very used to this. Usually, he divided the work between him, Juni, and Seika. Juni was the best at working with customers since they loved how bright she was. Seika didn't seem to want to try at all. Isuke was actually most like Seika, but he was great at pretending to be like Juni.
"Makoto! This one's the one I work at!! Let's go!!" Juni dragged a tall girl, who must be Makoto, over by the hand. Her hair was the same dark blue as Seika, but it was a little wavier, much longer, and more neatly trimmed. She had several bows in her hair.
"Alright, I'm going to try to win you the big rainbow bird for your collection. It matches your hair!"
"Yay!! Hi Otori! Alright, we want to play on hard for the large prizes. Here are our 20 tickets!"
Isuke handed them some rings.
"Hey Otori." Seika said.
"Kageyama." He acknowledged.
"They weren't supposed to be on a date but I think it turned into one. Now I'm stuck third wheeling. They're both so annoying. Should've asked someone else to come with me while I still had the chance."
"Aw! I was so close!" Makoto stared at the last ring she threw. If she missed the next one, she couldn't win the prize.
"Give it to me." Seika took the ring and effortlessly scored. "Here's your plushie. Congrats, I guess."
"You're the greatest little sister anyone could ask for!" She hugged her.
"Hey! Hey! Not in public!"
After that, his time working for the day was over. He took a walk around and bought himself a soft serve.
Emu was sitting at a table in one of the food courts. She was with Rui and Tsukasa, the three of them video calling Nene. They still had a little while before Emu had to return to work as part of PXL's management team.
"Nene! Nene! No, no. Everyone, you two have to do it too. One, two, three, wonderhoy!"
The four of them did their thing.
"So, Nene," Tsukasa began, "How are your shows going? I've heard splendid things on the internet."
"There's your answer, what more can I say," she teased.
"Did you receive my texts?" Rui asks.
"Yeah. It was so random. And way too sappy."
"Well, you're my oldest friend! I love you! And Emu and all our other friends and Tsukasa too, of course."
"Hey! Why did you list me, your dear partner, last?! Is our romance meaningless to you?!!!"
Aira sat on a bench nearby, watching a video on their phone. Isuke passed by them. Emu didn't notice until he tried to give her a smile.
"Eek!"
"Emu, what's wrong?"
"No, no. It's nothing! Nothing at all!"
When he noticed Aira, he walked up to that bench.
"Back to our chat with Nene!" Emu was stuttering.
Some time passed. Isuke and Aira were laughing at a cat photo Taisei sent to their group chat. They wished it was somehow possible to bring Taisei's cats into Sekai, their virtual singers would love it. Then, they also could meet a new friend and be less alone. At this point, Isuke had his jacket off.
Emu looked over at her nephew and Aira.
He's smiling, but really this time. It's a real smile!, she thought.